I am a British born, living in Canada. Moved from the countryside in June 2014 to an "Active Adult Community" which is a whole new way of life.
My blog is about all aspects of my daily life.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Ambleside Gingerbread

I have a really good gingerbread recipe, that I won't share with anyone, and I mean anyone. I won't even give it to my dad. So when we were in Britain I picked up a recipe book called Favourite Lakeland Recipes, and decided to make Ambleside Gingerbread from it. I am afraid all the measurements are in pounds and ounces, so you'll need a weighing scale.

Grease a 9" x 13 " baking pan and line with parchment paper. Set oven to 350 oF. Sieve the flour, salt, baking powder and ground ginger into a large bowl. Cut up the lard into small pieces, and rub in with the fingertips. Try hard not to sneeze too many times, because the ginger gets up your hose ;)

Stir in sugar, crystallised ginger and nutmeg.

Warm the syrup and milk together in a pan, then pour on to the dry ingredients and mix well.

Add the beaten egg, and mix well.

Pour into prepared baking tin. I found this a stiff dough, and needed to smooth out the top.

Bake at 350 oF for an hour.

Leave in the tin for 1/2 hour, if you can!! Then turn out on to a wire rack. Cut into squares.

A couple of things. I can't take a decent photo to save myself, so sorry about that. This smells so good. As long as you like ginger you will like this cake. I found it a bit "gingery" and next time I make it I will cut the ground ginger down to a couple of heaped teaspoons. This cake is also a bit dry. I am used to my other gingerbread which is very light and moist. I am not sure if adding a bit more milk would help, I can't see it doing any harm. Again I am thinking of my "top secret" recipe here!!!!! The recipe says it keeps really well, so maybe it tastes even better the next day, just like stew does?

3 comments:

Mmmmm, warm gingerbread. One of my favorite things.I found you over at Niki's and I'm glad I came for a visit.I have a favorite Gingerbread recipe too. My recipe was over a hundred years old way back in the 70's. My two boys could eat the whole panful in a day.